


Drink Feeling Dazed

by voleuse



Category: Firefly
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-10-07
Updated: 2005-10-07
Packaged: 2017-10-04 09:59:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voleuse/pseuds/voleuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>She puts her smile deep inside</em>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drink Feeling Dazed

**Author's Note:**

> Pre-series, no spoilers. Title and summary adapted from Rainer Maria Rilke's _Lady At A Mirror_.

The morning after, Inara watches him sleep, his cheek pressed against the pillow.

His name is Peter, and he is her first client.

He mumbles something, and his hand brushes low against her belly.

Something stirs within her, but when he opens his eyes to meet hers, her smile is courteous and composed.

"Good morning," she murmurs to him. "I've made tea."

She slides out of the bed, graceful as a dancer, and slips into her robes.

*

 

That afternoon, Nandi finds her in the gallery, alone.

"Was he pretty?" she purrs out, the corner of her mouth twisting up.

Inara rolls her eyes. Lifts her shoulder and looks away.

Nandi chuckles. "The soul of discretion, aren't you?"

But the tips of her fingers catch against Inara's, and hold.

Inara lets out a long breath, and watches a peacock strut across a canvas.

*

 

The house priestess does not seem surprised to see her, even at this late hour.

Inara kneels, follows the familiar ritual of burning incense, then closes her eyes in meditation.

Time passes, until the priestess speaks.

"Do you regret your choice?" Her voice is calming, an ebb and flow. "There would be no shame."

Denial leaps to Inara's lips, but she stays it. Lets the question resonate.

Finally, she answers, "It wasn't what I expected."

Smoke trails in thin twists around the shrine.

"Do you still believe this is your path?" the priestess asks.

Inara closes her eyes. Sees the bloom of Peter's smile, feels the sweet chafe of his skin. Tastes the ghost of him on her lips, and watches the proud set of his shoulders as he leaves.

"I don't know," she replies. "Is that--"

The priestess lays a hand on Inara's shoulder.

"It must be your choice." Her hand falls away, and she stands. "Yours alone."

When she's gone, Inara burns another stick of incense, until it's a fine and fragrant dust.

*

 

Nandi pours her a glass of wine.

Inara drinks it, and declines another.

"Would you leave," she asks Nandi, "if you had the choice?"

Nandi grins, and Inara grins back.

They understand each other perfectly.

*

 

In the moonlight, Shane trails a hand over Inara's spine, nips lightly at her neck.

She gasps, sweet, and arches, sharp.

Shane murmurs her name with a note of surprise.

She tries to catch her breath, and can't. Doesn't want to.

She closes her eyes and smiles.


End file.
